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Erika Eichelberger

Ohio is the latest state hit by fracking mania. The process, which requires pushing millions of gallons of water, sand and industrial chemicals into shale wells to fracture rock and push out oil and gas, took off after the discovery of massive natural gas deposits in the Utica shale underlying eastern Ohio last July.

Governor John Kasich sent the message that Ohio was open for business, writing to energy company CEOs around the country, inviting them to partner with the state to make fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, a major component of his economic plan. Until last year, there were just a few wells operating in Ohio. There are now 40, and the governor’s spokesperson said next year there could be five times as many.

Kasich says environmental protections and regulations are important to him, but the free-for-all so far has meant people and the environment have suffered. Not only has the process been linked to earthquakes and water contamination in the state, but the industry’s deceptive leasing practices are increasingly causing alarm among Ohioans.

Early last October, Cunningham Energy, a West Virginia-based oil and gas producer, hosted a leasing open house at Ohio University, and More Welch, an Athens county resident, went to inquire about what it would mean to sell his mineral rights. Cunningham representative Drake Stevens permitted Welch to record the conversation, which was later provided to EcoWatch, an environmental media non-profit. The audio of the interaction, and the transcription of the conversation, reveals Cunningham representatives misleading Welch about the chemicals used in the technique and the terms of the lease, and quoting him a vastly under-market land price.

When Welch asks whether the company uses chemicals in the process, Stevens replies, “We don’t put any chemicals down in the ground. We just use regular, fresh water.” Another representative who identifies himself merely as John and says he does the negotiating, later backtracks and asserts that they use “sand and water with the household chemicals” like “Dawn, uh, dishwashing detergent.”

As he walks through the lease, Stevens implies to Welch that the landowner has a choice as to whether to renew the lease after the initial five-year term. “I believe if you don’t want to have the option to release we can just do a standard five-year lease,” Stevens says. The actual lease provided to Welch states the opposite. It stipulates that renewing the lease is Cunningham’s prerogative, that the landowner has no say in it.

Finally, when Welch asks what the company will pay per acre, Drake quotes him $200, dramatically less than market value, which is between $2,500 and $3,500 an acre, according to Russell Chamberlain, a real estate broker and owner of Athens Real Estate Company in Athens, Ohio. Cunningham Energy says the price per acre it offers depends on location and varies from $1 to $2,500.

When asked to respond to the contents of Welch’s audio, Joe Blackhurst, a land supervisor at Cunningham, who spoke with Welch at the open house, and whose name is on the lease provided to him, said, “I don’t believe our reps knew they were being recorded, nor did they give permission to be recorded.” In the recording Stevens does give Welch explicit permission to tape the conversation. Blackhurst went on to say, “Besides, what they [the Cunningham representatives] said is true. The chemicals we use are commonly found in common household cleaners under your cabinet.”

Democratic State Rep. Bob Hagan, of Youngstown, who reviewed Welch’s recording, responded to these wily industry practices. “There’s no difference between snake oil and shale oil salesmen,” he says. “This is absolutely one of the biggest rip-offs I’ve ever seen.” Hagan says these deceptive tactics, if not reigned in, bode ill for Ohio’s future. “It speaks even more of what is coming when people are taken advantage of like this.”

The trampling of Ohio landowner rights, along with public outrage over sparse environmental and health protections, has spurred a grassroots resistance movement in the area. A recent Quinnipiac poll found that 72 percent of Ohioans want to halt fracking until its impacts are further studied. The national Occupy movement has lent its support to direct action movements in many communities.

Public opposition has spurred bills that are currently stalled in the Republican-controlled State House and Senate, as well as public pronouncements by both the attorney general and the governor.

Hagan and other Democrats in the state legislature have introduced a spate of bills that would require disclosure of chemicals used in the process, and put a moratorium on fracking and underground wastewater disposal injection wells until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concludes a study on its effects on drinking water. Republican obstructionism, Hagan says, means the bills are stonewalled at the committee level.

However, just last week, Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine made a statement calling for the creation of an agency to protect and inform landowners of their rights in dealings with lease agreements for drilling, as well as tougher penalties on polluters and transparency with regards to chemicals used in the extraction technique. He said he would leave it up to state lawmakers to make the legal changes though.

In his State of the State this month, Republican Gov. Kasich reiterated his support for the industry, but also expressed a commitment to push for tough regulations on drilling. He was interrupted by protesters shouting “Mic check!” and “John Kasich, you’re selling out Ohio!” His spokesman, Rob Nichols, says the governor has not yet outlined specific policy plans.

Industry resistance and lobbying are fierce. Hagan accuses his colleagues of being “shills for the industry.” Common Cause, a watchdog group, found that in the last 10 years, the industry has spent $747 million lobbying lawmakers and making campaign gifts. Kasich received about $214,000 from the industry.

Hagan says he hopes Republicans in the state legislature will soften and back laws curbing the industry soon “because there’s a lot of safety issues at stake if they don’t do it right. Water could be contaminated, the environment hurt and people could really suffer.”

Welch agrees. “This industry is performing their job without any integrity.”

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Erika Eichelberger works for The Nation Institute and is a freelance journalist. Follow Erika on Twitter at @erika_eee.

Comments

Patricia Davis

I have included a link from Maryland’s Attorny General below.

On a 60 minutes interview with a Saudi Energy executive, the executive stated that he was not worried about solar enery because,They are already working on it.
Solar Enery is can be integrated, but The cost are so high , I am not sure why, I don’t understand why The oil companies do not invest in affordable solar energies, instead of letting the Saudi’s win the race. I am from Maryland

where does all the water with the chemicals go……doesn’t water come up from the ground into our water supplies……lakes rivers and our homes tell me it doesn’t do that and prove it to me….we still have wells in Parkwood and Girard…….where are people going to get their drinking water from……….i was raised with well water……it comes through the ground…..no one in Ohio is that damn stupid…..all you politicians get your hands out of their pockets…..and work for your voters,,,,,,,,god bless you liars..cause god hears your lies to……..if you want us dead and no homes shoot us now instead of poisoning us slowly……….i have kids grands cousins…….old family people that have lived here all our lives……..must we die this way? maybe you need the money…..we need our lives for us and our families…..get with it….vote these fools out of office…and the next bunch that walk in will think twice…..we the people run our government not them …remember that…..my vote will go against every one of them…..god watch over us…..

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003405616371 Marklester

The frackers were emexpted from Federal Clean Water Act regulations by the famous Bush/Cheney Energy Taskforce. The NY Times and others are outing those officials though: Not to be denied their day in the sun, in an exclusive interview, Propublica followed the Times with another revealing episode a revealing admission by a former Bush EPA Assistant Administrator for Water, Benjamin Grumbles.Grumbles was directly involved with the Bush/Cheney Energy Task Force – the industry dominated group that drove the EPA study that led Congress – in the 2005 Energy Policy Act – to exempt fracking from federal environmental laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act ..

http://UtubeEarthophiles Linda

For the last 5 years Ohioans in residential communities east and south of Cleveland have been inundated by salesmen. Hundreds of wells have been drilled with many tragic stories. When a door-to-door salesman comes to a community to sell something, that person must be honest in his/her sales pitch according to state law, but when someone “buys” something (like the rights to gas) the landmen can promise anything they want and there are no laws insisting on honesty. People are promised bundles of money, and many sign impulsively without getting legal advice.
A well can ruin the property values of neighbors and cause horrible heartache and health issues. Old wells all over the state leak, Many companies in Ohio have multiple dumping violations etc. but are still allowed to continue to drill.
The most devastating example of water pollution that I am aware of occurred in a cul-de-sac in Bainbridge, Ohio. Drilling was done on a farm property near the cul-de -ac. A state inspector was not present (commonly the case in Ohio). The driller sealed the well incompetently and gas leaked into the ground water. One of the houses in the neighborhood BLEW UP! Also the well water in the entire neighborhood was contaminated.
For at least two years the drilling company refused to deal with the problems of the neighborhood. They were forced by the state to provide water to each house; but this is terribly inconvenient. They refused to hook up the people in the cul de sac to city water until forced to do so by a lawsuit. This tragic error had a horrible impact on the neighborhood making the properties worthless and unsalable. A lawsuit finally resulted in a settlement. Well water is gone forever, and the company is still drilling away in spite of multiple violations and lawsuits.
Look up Bainbridge Ohio natural gas explosion on the internet. See my U tube site Earthophiles for more sad stories on drilling in Ohio. Linda

Kimmer

Kasich is a sell out :-~~~~~~ Line his pockets and he will do the dirty deed.

CK

Both sides are sellouts!!! I hate the way our government is screwing us only to get fat from the money that causes our demise.

http://facebook jan heaton

http://www.nrdc.org/naturesvoice[email protected]
The KOCH-A-KOLA KOWBOYS + their SHell- B.P.-Enbridge- Sinopec-(Chinese Oil Co,) a subsidiary of the China National Ofshore Oil Corporation-+ halliburton-+etc.– have hi-jacked the common man-whether canadian or american- away from his colective voice against “tar sands”- “frakking”- ==*chemical dumping in once fertile soil-poisoning the water-but earth day is coming soon- we should all meet in medina ohio-where we’re “banned”!
130 native people groups have opposed the pipeline in kitmaat village where 225 super-tankers would load millions of barrels of tar sands oil causing global warming and destruction of envirnmental boreal forests.”we borrow the land from our children” Old Native Proverb- a grey eagle